''Dolichopithecus'' is an extinct genus of

Old World monkey Old World monkey is the common English name for a family of primates known taxonomically as the Cercopithecidae (). Twenty-four genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons ...

that lived in Europe during the

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million years ago) to 5.333 Ma. The ...

and

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Charles Depéret Charles Jean Julien Depéret (25 June 1854 – 18 May 1929) was a French geologist and paleontologist. He was a member of the French Academy of Sciences, the Société géologique de France

, based on fossil remains from the

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area in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

dating back to the Middle Pliocene. Numerous fossils of ''D. ruscinensis'' have been found in European Pliocene deposits from France,

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, and

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. A second species, ''D. balcanicus'', has been described from remains found in the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

. Some extinct colobine species from Asia have formerly been included in ''Dolichopithecus''; ''D. leptopostorbitalis'' of Japan, now placed in '' Kanagawapithecus'', and ''D. eohanuman'' from northeast Asia, now in ''

Parapresbytis ''Parapresbytis'' is an extinct genus of colobine monkey that lived in northeast Asia during the Mid-Late Pliocene. It is represented by single species known as ''Parapresbytis eohanuman'', whose remains have been found throughout the Transbaikal ...

''. '' Paradolichopithecus arvernensis'' was also originally included under this genus, but is more related to

macaques The macaques () constitute a genus (''Macaca'') of gregarious Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. The 23 species of macaques inhabit ranges throughout Asia, North Africa, and (in one instance) Gibraltar. Macaques are principal ...

rather than colobines. ''Dolichopithecus'' is believed to be closely related to '' Mesopithecus'' and the two form an early grouping of Eurasian colobines. The teeth are very similar, although ''Dolichopithecus'' has a larger size, longer skull and more terrestrial adaptations than ''Mesopithecus''.

Description

''Dolichopithecus'' was a rather large monkey with estimated weights of for males and for females; as in most monkeys the male would have been significantly larger than the female. ''Dolichopithecus'' had a rather long skull with very large canines in the male, and many postcranial elements match those of ground-dwelling monkeys such as baboons more than they do to it close colobine relatives. This includes short,stout phalanges and joint articulations similar to those of baboons. The environment it would have lived in was forested, so it can be assumed that ''Dolichopithecus'' would have roamed the forest floors.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q48679986 Colobinae Miocene primates Pliocene primates Miocene mammals of Europe Pliocene mammals of Europe Prehistoric primate genera